Man Warns Neighbor That Illegally Extended Land Is A Bad Idea, Gets Ignored, Later Watches As Authorities Tear His Yard Down
Neighbors are supposed to help each other out. Especially if they see that the other is making a big mistake. But what should you do when your neighbor ignores your timely advice and aggressively tells you to mind your own beeswax? Well, in that case, you sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, waiting for karma to show up.
Redditor MLC2001 told the story of how his grandfather moved to a nature preserve and spotted his neighbor illegally extending the boundaries of his land. When his grandpa approached the neighbor with some words of wisdom, counseling him to stop doing this, the neighbor told him to “mind his own damn business.” Naturally, we all know that the universe conspires to punish jerks like that. And that’s exactly what happened. Read on for the saucy details and Bored Panda’s interview with the Redditor!
One Reddit user told the story of how his grandfather warned his neighbor to stop land-grabbing
Image credits: flickr (not the actual photo)
The rude neighbor told the Redditor’s grandpa to mind his own business, but what goes around comes around
Image credits: MLC2001
This is one of those tales where the moral of the story is as old as the invention of fire itself: don’t be a jerk to the people you live next to, even if you really can’t help yourself.
Heck, even cavemen knew to be nice to the savages living in the cave next to theirs because all of their survival depended on it. Sadly, it seems that in the modern world, due to a lack of saber-toothed tigers, we’ve forgotten just how important it is that other people have our back.
MLC2001’s grandfathers neighbor ended up losing his sports car and his golf cart, while his yard was torn up. All because he illegally grabbed more and more land, and didn’t want to listen to the pensioner’s advice.
And when the jerk neighbor dares ask the Redditor’s grandpa why he didn’t inform him that the authorities were getting ready to punish him, he replied that he thought the neighbor wanted him to “mind his own damn business.” Epic comeback. That kind of burn is going to need an ice pack.
Bored Panda contacted MLC2001 to hear about what happened and the fallout in more detail. “The neighbor seems to be more respectful after this incident. Can’t say he and gramps will ever be friends, but they’ve had conversations about other stuff since this happened and the neighbor has been less of a dismissive jerk than he was the first year and a half gramps lived there.”
“I think gramps just thinks it’s funny now,” the Redditor added. “At the time he seemed more detached, like he actually took the neighbor at his word and simply butted out of everything that was going on as he assumed the neighbor would be notified and would straighten everything out before it got too far along in the process. It wasn’t until neighbor returned and told other people what had happened that gramps learned about him not forwarding his mail and stuff.”
MLC2001 also said that “the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” applies to neighbor relations. It never hurts to consider how your actions may impact others around you!”
“From comments made by other neighbors, it sounds like this guy wasn’t the only one, but he was the most obvious about it,” the Reddit user explained further. “I think people see land that doesn’t appear to belong to anyone, so they just fudge the line a little. But over time they become more brazen and suddenly they’ve taken more than they intended.”
The Redditor’s grandpa impressed everyone
If you’re ever in a land dispute with a neighbor, then you know how difficult things can get. The Boundary Problems website analyzed what the most common behavior types of neighbors there are. According to the website, some neighbors are the quiet type and will quickly back down, not wanting to start a fight over something trivial. While other neighbors stand firm besides their principles and won’t ever back down until they see that justice is done.
There are also negotiators who look for compromises, as well as bullies who live by the motto ‘my way or the highway.’ Finally, there are the so-called ‘poker players’ who see disputes as a game that requires strategies to win, and who may use a decent dose of bluffing to get what they want. If only every neighbor was a negotiator, there would be way fewer problems in the world and plenty more healthy relationships between people who live next to each other.
The quietly stealing land thing has been pretty popular here. Run into multiple home owners due to my work. One of them completely refused to let us go through their stolen patch. Ended up calling the guys who deal with land measuring. He lost all of the land he stole. Nothing would have happened if he agreed to let us dig a small trench and later fill it up again.
I'm glad the county acted on it. I've come across this kind of abuse of public land before, and often times there are letters and threats, but nothing happens. Happy that the preserved land was reclaimed and delighted that not only did this guy get his come-uppance, but that Gramps was able to gently serve him back his own medicine!
Exactly. There is a house being built without authorization in a protected natural reserve (in the Czech Republic). Everybody knows about it but the authorities apparently "can't do anything about it". It's infuriating. (Probably some kind of corruption behind it.)
Load More Replies...In Lithuania (you should know very well, BP writers!) these simple old people in rural areas are targeted by the neighbours who ask them to sign contractural documents but verbally only explaining that they wanted to build a fence, cut a tree, place pipes underground etc. The fact is that the old people are signing sales contract of the property / land without realising. Also the old people are too stubborn to ask their children for their opinions before signing anything. The family's land / property returned to them after the end of USSR get grabbed by the 'friendly' neighbours.
I got some good advice years ago: “Don’t sign anything without reading the fine print first”. Best advice I ever got—-has saved me money and headaches several times since. Hope someone stops this scam in your country.
Load More Replies...Have noted that if it were private property he did this too it may take years to settle this. and if the discovery is not done quick enough It may very well belong to the squatters. just feel the government should have to live under the same laws and rules for the rest of us.
I think the fact that the protected lands are being protected and this was handled faster is a positive thing
Load More Replies...KARMA is a b***h and you spell her name like this WHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
We had a neighbor put a fence in and try to put it on our property and claim it was there's. We talked to a lawyer and he said if you don't make them move the fence now in a few years it will become theirs through default. So we had to ask them to move it. Apparently this is commonly done by people who are used to getting ways with c**p.
Pretty disappointing story. A happier ending would end with the guys execution but sadly such stuff doesn't happen
i actually have a neighbor who uses our driveway and carport every day. couldn't help but think of them while reading this. last night they were using our driveway and carport as temporary parking while they moved vehicles out of their severely overloaded carport. they also regularly park on the street in a way that partially or completely obstructs our driveway. sadly nothing happens to them since i live in a very liberal city with pretty much no code enforcement or law enforcement of any kind. they pretty much just let anyone do whatever they want here with impunity. you could park your car in a tree and probably not get cited.
Finally Karma showed her face and she is very unforgiving. I love this story.
Why do people make such a big deal over a few feet of land? It would have been much easier for the neighbor to just be happy with his land in the firs place.
Maybe you would look at in a different light if those were your few feet of land that the neighbour "happened" to annex to his own property...
Load More Replies...The quietly stealing land thing has been pretty popular here. Run into multiple home owners due to my work. One of them completely refused to let us go through their stolen patch. Ended up calling the guys who deal with land measuring. He lost all of the land he stole. Nothing would have happened if he agreed to let us dig a small trench and later fill it up again.
I'm glad the county acted on it. I've come across this kind of abuse of public land before, and often times there are letters and threats, but nothing happens. Happy that the preserved land was reclaimed and delighted that not only did this guy get his come-uppance, but that Gramps was able to gently serve him back his own medicine!
Exactly. There is a house being built without authorization in a protected natural reserve (in the Czech Republic). Everybody knows about it but the authorities apparently "can't do anything about it". It's infuriating. (Probably some kind of corruption behind it.)
Load More Replies...In Lithuania (you should know very well, BP writers!) these simple old people in rural areas are targeted by the neighbours who ask them to sign contractural documents but verbally only explaining that they wanted to build a fence, cut a tree, place pipes underground etc. The fact is that the old people are signing sales contract of the property / land without realising. Also the old people are too stubborn to ask their children for their opinions before signing anything. The family's land / property returned to them after the end of USSR get grabbed by the 'friendly' neighbours.
I got some good advice years ago: “Don’t sign anything without reading the fine print first”. Best advice I ever got—-has saved me money and headaches several times since. Hope someone stops this scam in your country.
Load More Replies...Have noted that if it were private property he did this too it may take years to settle this. and if the discovery is not done quick enough It may very well belong to the squatters. just feel the government should have to live under the same laws and rules for the rest of us.
I think the fact that the protected lands are being protected and this was handled faster is a positive thing
Load More Replies...KARMA is a b***h and you spell her name like this WHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
We had a neighbor put a fence in and try to put it on our property and claim it was there's. We talked to a lawyer and he said if you don't make them move the fence now in a few years it will become theirs through default. So we had to ask them to move it. Apparently this is commonly done by people who are used to getting ways with c**p.
Pretty disappointing story. A happier ending would end with the guys execution but sadly such stuff doesn't happen
i actually have a neighbor who uses our driveway and carport every day. couldn't help but think of them while reading this. last night they were using our driveway and carport as temporary parking while they moved vehicles out of their severely overloaded carport. they also regularly park on the street in a way that partially or completely obstructs our driveway. sadly nothing happens to them since i live in a very liberal city with pretty much no code enforcement or law enforcement of any kind. they pretty much just let anyone do whatever they want here with impunity. you could park your car in a tree and probably not get cited.
Finally Karma showed her face and she is very unforgiving. I love this story.
Why do people make such a big deal over a few feet of land? It would have been much easier for the neighbor to just be happy with his land in the firs place.
Maybe you would look at in a different light if those were your few feet of land that the neighbour "happened" to annex to his own property...
Load More Replies...
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